Self-rule Rises In N. Ireland

LONDON — A new era of politics dawned in Northern Ireland this morning on the first day of a self-rule government that both Protestants and Roman Catholics in the province can call their own.

Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday approved a law granting semi-autonomy to Northern Ireland, and power formally passed from London to the provincial capital, Belfast, at midnight.

The Protestant-Catholic government assumes control of its own affairs 610 days after the signing of the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement to end a sectarian conflict that has taken more than 3,500 lives in the past three decades.

Both sides see the new government as a historic advance, but neither expects the act of governing this polarized province to be easy. That will be evident at the first meeting of the 12-member Cabinet today, which the two members from a hard-line Protestant party vow to boycott.

The Democratic Unionist Party opposes the peace accord and says it will not sit in a Cabinet with Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, until the guerrilla group begins to disarm.

The issue of IRA disarmament -- and fear that ancient hatreds could destroy this government as they did the last brief attempt at power-sharing in 1974 -- has lent a subdued air to otherwise momentous times. Judging it too soon to celebrate, most people of Northern Ireland have gone about their business while the new government ministers get to work with little fanfare.

"There is no more talking shop anymore," said Protestant leader David Trimble, the new first minister of Northern Ireland. "We are about to have an institution with responsibility. ... This is going to change the culture of politics in Northern Ireland."

Trimble leads the new government because he is head of the largest political party in the province, the Ulster Unionists. His deputy, Seamus Mallon, the Catholic leader of the Social Democratic and Labor Party, also described the "awesome responsibilities" that lie ahead for politicians who have never administered a government.

"We are at the end of an era, but we are at the beginning of a new one," Mallon said.

The other 10 Cabinet posts are filled by five Protestants and five Catholics, including two from Sinn Fein. They were selected by Northern Ireland's political parties on Monday after more than a year of delays. Trimble's party gave him the go-ahead Saturday to form a government ahead of disarmament but said it will re-evaluate the decision in February. Trimble has said he will resign the government then if the IRA has not started to get rid of its weapons.

These unexpected conditions have infuriated the IRA, which nonetheless says it will appoint a representative to an international disarmament commission today as was agreed to in negotiations brokered by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell last month.

Also today, the Irish government is to formally relinquish its constitutional claims to Northern Ireland, and a British-Irish agreement is to be signed by Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson and Irish Foreign Minister David Andrews to establish cross-border committees to coordinate policies in areas of mutual interest.

Liz O'Donnell, Ireland's deputy foreign minister, said all of these steps, laid out in the Good Friday accord, provide the backbone of a final settlement to the bloody conflict between pro-British Protestants and Catholics who want to see Northern Ireland united with the Irish Republic.

The government of Northern Ireland will oversee health, education, trade, agriculture and other local concerns, while Britain will retain authority over security and defense, tax policy and foreign affairs. Among the Cabinet members are Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander now representing Sinn Fein, and Democratic Unionist Nigel Dodds, who once was attacked by IRA gunmen.

Dodds and fellow Democratic Unionist Peter Robinson have refused to attend the opening Cabinet meeting. But they say they will govern on behalf of all citizens of Northern Ireland without discrimination.